Mother of N.H. accident victim urges motorcycle safety

Monday

Geoffrey Lewis taught himself to ride a bicycle at the age of 3. By the time he was 5, he had moved on to mountain bikes. He bought his first motorcycle at 28.

Geoffrey Lewis taught himself to ride a bicycle at the age of 3. By the time he was 5, he had moved on to mountain bikes. He bought his first motorcycle at 28.

“He loved anything fast or on the edge,” said his mother, Sally Gottling. “When Jeff went for a ride, Jeff went for a ride at 70 mph on a back road. That was just him.”

And it killed him.

A month after buying his motorcycle, Lewis barreled into a car pulling out of a side street. He was going more than 30 miles over the speed limit and wasn’t wearing a helmet.

“He hit me head on from the opposite direction,” said the car’s driver, Colleen O’Connor, who was coming home from a line-dancing class. “Folks said I was in a state of shock. I didn’t eat for a few days.”

Lewis died last June of multiple injuries such as a severed spinal column and a ruptured aorta within minutes of the impact, leaving behind a 2-year-old son.

He was one of 25 people killed in motorcycle crashes in New Hampshire last year. And, with this year’s motorcycle season just gearing up, two people already have died in crashes.

An average of 21 people have died in motorcycle crashes over the last five years. This is low compared to a national high in 2006 of 562 deaths in Florida, but state officials are concerned.

After 42 riders died in 2005, the state formed a motorcycle task force and began promoting safety courses, said Peter Thomson, coordinator of the New Hampshire Highway Safety Agency.

“You learn how to physically ride a motorcycle,” Thomson said about the classes. “Not everyone can just jump on and ride.”

The classes are now offered in nine locations throughout New Hampshire. Applications can be printed off the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles Web site.

With the statewide rise in riders, officials are strongly urging motorcyclists to enroll.

There are now over 56,000 registered motorcycles in New Hampshire, according to the Division of Motor Vehicles.

Thomson attributes the rise to soaring gas prices and a growing group of baby boomers eager to get on the road.

“We’re finding they jump on the motorcycles because they did it when they were young people,” Thomson said. But “motorcycles are far larger than they were” and “baby boomers reflexes are not as good as when they were young.”

The number of riders surges during Motorcycle Week, one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in the country, held every June in New Hampshire. This year it’s being held June 14-22.

Ten riders died during the event in 2006, according to Thomson.

He urges motorcyclists to wear helmets, not required by state law, and follow the rules of the road.

“Even people in cars need to be careful,” said O’Connor, who still gets nervous every time she gets behind the wheel. “You just have to be very aware of the environment and your surroundings.”

Thomson’s agency is sponsoring a motorcycle safety rally in Concord on May 10. Gottling is one of the featured speakers.

“I want people to just think about what they’re doing,” said Gottling, whose involvement helps her cope with her grief. “If I can save one family from burying their child, or burying a family member, then I’ve accomplished what I want to do.”